Happy 239th Birthday, United States Marines!

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any stretch, it’s just 7 ways in which Marines have proven why we should honor them on their 239th Birthday today. Ooh Rah.

1. The Battle of Belleau Wood

Lance Cpl. Seth H. Capps, a member of the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, drinks out of Devil Dog Fountain following the 93rd anniversary of the Battle for Belleau Wood May 30. (Photo By Cpl. Bobby J. Yarbrough, USMC)

This ferocious, weeks-long World War I battle in June 1918 in Belleau (Aisne), France, saved Paris from the German raiding forces and turned the tide of the war. By the time the bayonet wielding Marines were done, the Germans were in full retreat and so frightened of these fighters they named them ‘Devil Dogs’, a mythical creature of German lore.

Marines still come to this place to drink from the Devil Dog fountain and pay their respects at Belleau Wood. Marines have been called Devil Dogs ever since.